


We Can Be Like They Are

by Inbredipus



Category: Starbound (Video Game)
Genre: I love these two a lot, Music, Other, space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 19:52:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14817819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inbredipus/pseuds/Inbredipus
Summary: The ship always had good acoustics; this was both a blessing and a curse.At the moment, it was taking the latter form.





	We Can Be Like They Are

The ship always had good acoustics; this was both a blessing and a curse.

At the moment, it was taking the latter form.

Micah slipped out of the cot he was using as a bed as soon as he heard the sound of a violin playing. He listed a bit as he trudged towards the noise, vaguely annoyed at being woken up.

It was Ascella, which Micah on some level knew - the cat certainly couldn’t play - but he was still surprised to find them performing so expertly. He was even more surprised by the sadness of the song. For a while, he hung around the entrance to the bridge, just watching as Ascella deftly played. They were lit by the lines of the stars that passed as the ship’s FTL drive propelled the ship to its next destination, making Ascella look like they were the center of the universe, the single point of expansion. Their glow lengthened the shadows in the corners of the room as if driving back an army.

Micah couldn’t tell if Ascella had noticed him, but if they had, they certainly didn’t seem to care.

Ascella couldn’t seem to stay still as they played; they moved their feet as if possessed by the rhythm. It almost seemed as if their light brightened and dimmed in time to the beat. Their skirt swung about them like flower petals in the wind, and Micah had to wonder how their legs never seemed to get caught on the fabric.

Alone, dancing and playing in the cramped, empty bridge, Ascella looked like the last god in a dead world, performing only for silence and skulls. It was ethereal, maddeningly so, but it was mostly melancholy. Micah never thought he could ever apply that adjective to Ascella, who took the brightness of a star and made it their personality, but then again, he never thought he would find Ascella playing music alone while everyone else was sleeping.

Eventually, Ascella faded out the notes to the song they were playing, letting the music disperse like so much dust in the wind. They looked out the front of the ship, their back to Micah, and let out a noise Micah never thought would come from them: a sigh.

As soon as the sigh faded, they put the violin back in place, and began to play once more, this song starting out even more emotionally. Micah didn’t know it, but he could feel the way the song seemed to talk not only about loss and sorrow, but triumph and strength as well; he couldn’t help but relate to it. Either that, or Micah was really, really tired.

About halfway through the song, Squishy came sauntering up from the cabin. He rubbed himself against Micah’s legs and meowed, shocking both Micah and Ascella out of their bittersweet headspace.

Ascella’s head whipped around, shock stiffening their limbs. Micah raised a hand in nervous greeting, a sheepish smile crossing his lips.

“Yer up.”

“Yeah.” Micah rubbed the back of his head and stared at the wall, unsure how to meet Ascella’s face. He felt like he’d witnessed something deeply personal. No, he had witnessed something deeply personal; the way Ascella was lowering their violin and hunching their shoulders made that plain to see.

“How long?”

“About two songs.”

Ascella nodded solemnly, and the disconnect between the normal vigorous joy that usually pervaded Ascella's entire being and the slow drain of color that seemed to be their present demeanor was disquieting. “Did I wake ya?” they asked, oddly quiet.

“Yeah, but I don’t mind.”

Ascella didn’t seem to know how to take that, and thus decided to not respond at all.

“Could you keep playing?” Micah asked, suddenly.

“Whut?”

“I,” Micah began, before seeming to think the better of his original phrasing, “You play beautifully.”

“Thank ya kindly, but I don’t normally play fer others.”

Micah bit his lip, raising his pale eyes to meet Ascella’s face. Without eyes, it was hard to tell where Ascella was actually looking, but something about the energy in the room gave Micah the sensation that Ascella was making direct eye-to-brand contact. “I really did like it, though.”

Ascella made a thoughtful hum, their glow flickering in what Micah took to mean that Ascella was considering it. Eventually, Ascella uncurled a bit from their slightly hunched stance. “I reckon I could play just one song, if ya really liked it.”

“I did.”

Ascella nodded, returning their violin to its playing position. They didn’t start to play, though, instead opting to address Micah: “Ya got any requests?”

Micah let a small smile crease his lips as he walked further into the bridge, Squishy trailing behind him. “What songs do you know?”

“A lot,” Ascella replied, shrugging. “I had lotsa free time.” Their voice seemed to go dangerously even at the second statement, as if saying that they were not willing to open up any more than that.

“Then you can pick.”

If Ascella had a face, they would probably have blinked rapidly in confusion, at least if Micah was reading their body language correctly. “A’ight,” they said after a pause, starting to play.

Oh. Micah knew this one.

“‘Don’t Fear the Reaper’? That’s a pretty old song.”

Ascella nodded, not stopping their performance as they spoke: “It’s one of my favorites.”

“Mine, too,” Micah said, closing his eyes and drifting along to the song.

**Author's Note:**

> A few things:
> 
> 1\. Ascella is actually the character in my icon.
> 
> 2\. Play starbound, it's very good.
> 
> 3\. I have way too much free time.
> 
> 4\. Title taken from the song "Don't fear the reaper".


End file.
